Kawaguchi is a large ‘bedroom community’ of more than 560,000 people on the northern banks of the Arakawa River in the southeast corner of Saitama Prefecture.

The city is mainly residential with spread out communities and a heavy reliance on transport by private vehicle. Consequently there are large malls such as Aeon Mall in the suburbs. Near Kawaguchi Station however, it is much more densely populated with a large number of high-rise buildings including the 55 storey Elsa Tower – the former tallest residential building in Japan.

Kawaguchi is served by 3 different railway lines – the JR Keihin Tohoku Line, the JR Musashino Line and the Saitama Rapid Railway Line.